Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source: Grand Rapids Press (MI)
Copyright: 2007 Grand Rapids Press
Contact:  http://www.gr.mlive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/171
Author: Paul R. Kopenkoskey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

KENOWA HILLS: SURVEY, CAMPAIGN TARGET DRUG USE

ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Many high school students assume  drug abuse is 
widespread among their peers.

A $100,000 federal grant will be used to show Kenowa  Hills High 
School students how that assumption is often  misleading.

Peer pressure has many teens presuming drug and alcohol  use is 
common, said Nancy Harper, project director of  Alcohol Education, 
Research and Training, or ALERT, a  U.S. Health and Human Services 
anti-drug program.

The one-year ALERT grant will fund a survey, a  school-wide anti-drug 
campaign and counseling services.

Kenowa Hills High School's 1,230 students will take a  survey in 
March to gauge how many use alcohol and  drugs, Principal Peg Mathis 
said. The poll will  identify students only by aggregate groups, such 
as their age and grade level.

Administrators plan to release the survey results in  the fall -- 
when the anti-drug campaign is launched.

"What makes this different with this program is the  social norm 
campaign tries to affirm the students who  are not using," Mathis 
said. "We think it's (the number  of non-users) larger than what we think."

Harper said drugs don't have the allure they once had  with adolescents.

"We find the vast majority of students, 80 to 90  percent, don't want 
to date someone who smokes, uses  drugs or alcohol," she said.

Counseling will be available as well, said Harper.

"This is a five-year project," she said. "It takes  about two years 
to make a difference in a high school.  We expect, after two years, 
to see a 10 to 20 percent  reduction in the use of alcohol and other drugs."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman